For Bread: An Immigrant’s Tale of Hope, Hardship, and the American Dream - A Modern Translation of Za Chlebem by Henryk Sienkiewicz

by Henryk Sienkiewicz, Eleanor Montfield (Translator)

For Bread (Za chlebem) is a powerful and heartbreaking short novel by Nobel Prize–winning author Henryk Sienkiewicz, brought to life in a new modern English translation. Set against the backdrop of the 19th-century immigrant experience, this gripping story follows a poor Polish family as they journey to America in search of a better life.

What they find is not the promised land, but a world of brutal labor, hunger, and abandonment. From the forests of Arkansas to the crowded streets of New York City, For Bread explores themes of poverty, displacement, resilience, and the human cost of chasing the American Dream.

Through the eyes of Marysia, a young girl struggling to survive in a world that seems determined to break her, Sienkiewicz paints a vivid portrait of loss, love, and endurance. Written with compassion and clarity, this classic novella offers timeless insight into immigration, family bonds, and the silent strength of women navigating hardship alone.

Perfect for readers who

Immigrant fiction and historical realism
Short literary fiction with emotional depth
Classic literature in modern English
Stories about poverty, survival, and sacrifice
Works by authors like Upton Sinclair, Willa Cather, and Émile Zola
This edition features a faithful modern English translation that preserves the emotional tone and narrative voice of the original Polish text—ideal for students, book clubs, and lovers of world literature.

Genres: Fiction, Polish Literature, Classics, Novella

87 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1880

About the author

Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz (also known as "Litwos"; May 5, 1846–November 15, 1916) was a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist. He was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his "outstanding merits as an epic writer."

Born into an impoverished gentry family in the Podlasie village of Wola Okrzejska, in Russian-ruled Poland, Sienkiewicz wrote historical novels set during the Rzeczpospolita (Polish Republic, or Commonwealth). His works were noted for their negative portrayal of the Teutonic Order in The Teutonic Knights (Krzyżacy), which was remarkable as a significant portion of his readership lived under German rule. Many of his novels were first serialized in newspapers, and even today are still in print. In Poland, he is best known for his historical novels "With Fire and Sword", "The Deluge", and "Fire in the Steppe" (The Trilogy) set during the 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, while internationally he is best known for Quo Vadis, set in Nero's Rome. Quo Vadis has been filmed several times, most notably the 1951 version.

Sienkiewicz was meticulous in attempting to recreate the authenticity of historical language. In his Trilogy, for instance, he had his characters use the Polish language as he imagined it was spoken in the seventeenth century (in reality it was far more similar to 19th-century Polish than he imagined). In The Teutonic Knights, which relates to the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, he even had his characters speak a variety of medieval Polish which he recreated in part from archaic expressions then still common among the highlanders of Podhale.

In 1881, Sienkiewicz married Maria Szetkiewicz (1854-1885). They had two children, Henryk Józef (1882-1959) and Jadwiga Maria (1883–1969).

Reviews

[Iza Bela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zguba zaprawdę była to pewna

[Galicius · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had no idea when I first read this frightening story in my elementary school that years later I would visit Chatham Square. Fortunately it was as a visiting tourist that I stumbled into a much changed landmark in the early 2000’s than it must have looked in the late 19th Century.

[Wiktor Seweryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

[9/10] – (2026) – tak sobie wyobrażam londyńską przygodę misia Paddingtona, gdyby nie został przygarnięty przez rodzinę Brownów, bowiem: "Nie ludzie też znęcali się nad nią, ale życie i jego warunki. Co w tym amerykańskim wirze i w tym olbrzymim businessie miał robić ten polny kwiatek lipiniecki? Jak sobie radzić? Wóz też tamtejszy musiał przejechać przez nią i zgnieść jej wątłe ciało, jak każdy wóz przejeżdża po kwiatach, co na jego drogę padły…"

[Ala · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,75/5

[roksannaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henryk mnie zaskakuje pozytywnie (czasem)

[Anna P (whatIreallyRead) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A second bilingual Polish/Ukrainian edition of classics I picked up. I mostly referred to the parallel text for the dialect of the peasants and the outdated words/grammar. I think it would have been too difficult to read otherwise.

This one included a few short stories, with the titular Za chlebem being the longest one. They focused on the difficult and perilous lives of peasants, which is also a common topic in XIX-century Ukrainian classics, so I felt right at home.

The only story I didn't like was the one about the Gold Rush in California with no Polish characters. That's an ok topic but that's not what I come to Sienkiewicz for. Overall pretty cool and I'm happy I read some Polish classics!

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating look at a pair of peasants from Poland who go to America. It's the tale of two people who don't succeed by any stretch, but who don't fail... exactly. They... have no idea what to do as not-peasants!

[Allecandria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poryczałam się na książce. A to nie jest jakieś częste u mnie. Nie spodziewałam się czegoś, co wywoła we mnie aż takie emocje... i aż tak mnie zmiecie z planszy. 5 gwiazdek by było, gdyby była dłuższa.

[Assayah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trochę się męczyłam, dobrze, że była krótka. Przekaz ma, ale nie jest taki, że by mnie jakoś "dotknął" i zmienił życie.

[Karol Nguyễn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the way Sienkiewicz creating marvelous adventure, but I also hate the way he had to dramatically sabotage his characters in the end of every story. "Za Chleblem", to me, is quite an interesting topic, and it's still relevant so far: Is the grass realy greener on the other side? Is one's life going to be better if he/she choose to give up the current life and move somewhere so far away, carry along nothing but vague hopes and dreams.

[Анна Шляхова · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realistic, tough stories about emigrants.

[Zuzanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5) Rather depressing, kept me wondering how close the story was to possible real life inspirations.

[Martyna Knap]

jakie to było smutne i can’t

[Emilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sienkiewicz musiał mieć depresję...

[martynka | ostatnisnap · Rating 4 out of 5]

wciągnęłam się i już miałam nadzieję, ale heniek jak zwykle musiał napisać smutną nowelę

[julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
og grona gniewu

[Marta · Rating 3 out of 5]

gdybym miała złotówkę za każdą poszkodowaną przez wawrzona marysię w nowelkach jakie dzisiaj przeczytałam, miałabym dwa złote. nie jest to dużo, ale dziwne, że wydarzyło się to dwa razy

[Hadrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

6,5/10

[Melyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quietly devastating and deeply human

I picked up For Bread not really knowing what to expect, and it completely broke my heart in the best way. It’s not one of those immigration stories where everything magically works out — this one feels truer. It’s about the people who arrive in America with nothing, without connections, without knowing the system, and find themselves completely overwhelmed and stuck.

What struck me most was how ordinary the characters are. They’re not heroes or villains — just regular people trying to survive in a world that doesn’t care much about them. That made the story hit even harder. It doesn’t wrap things up neatly. It’s slow, sad, and real.

It reminded me that behind every statistic or headline, there are people — often lost, often alone, and just trying to make it. I won’t forget this one for a long time.

[Rosecasanova · Rating 2 out of 5]

beautiful book, blue with gold, red and pink gilt roses on the cover; at least that's what the 1898 version looks like. I just started reading, so far so good. It's a story about immigrating to the U.S. from Poland. I'll let you know.

[Kristína · Rating 3 out of 5]

Táto poviedka sa mi až tak nepáčila. Pôvodne som chcela dať aj nižšie hodnotenie. Prvá polovica ma totiž vôbec nebavila, našťastie druhá bola lepšia. Príbeh rozprávala o otcovi a dcéra, ktorí odchádzajú do Ameriky, za chlebom. Ale tam je to inak, ako si predstavovali atď atď...

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good if you're really interested. Most people in Poland had heard of this in primary school or in high school and later forgot about it.